A federal judge in Virginia considering one of the legal challenges to Donald Trump's Muslim ban extended an order Friday granting detainees access to lawyers and halting deportations of lawful permanent residents (i.e. green-card holders) from Dulles International Airport.
U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema—whom Trump cannot fire—also issued a sharp rebuke of Trump's ill-conceived ban. Laura Jarrett writes:
"I have been on this bench a long time ... I have never seen such a public outpouring before," Brinkema said, adding that this order "touched something in people like I've never seen before."
She went on to explain that she recognized that the President has "almost unfettered" discretion in the area of immigration, but his power has "limits" and the rollout of the executive order caused "chaos" last weekend.
"Without any kind of fact-finding or hard evidence of a need to rescind these (visa) decisions, human beings relied on these decisions. ... I hope the government gives serious thought about how to address these issues."
Brinkema ruled that Virginia can intervene in the lawsuit, giving the challenge life even if government lawyers settle the original complaints brought by individual plaintiffs.
Government lawyers also revealed during Friday's proceedings that 100,000 people had their visas revoked based on the ban.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer declined on Friday to elaborate on the number, even after he claimed Monday that just 109 travelers were “temporarily inconvenienced.” But Brinkema had something to say:
Near the end of the hearing, Brinkema said it was a “real problem” when people were vetted by the US government and authorized to come to the United States, only to have that authorization revoked without fact-finding and hard evidence that there was a need to do so.
“It has obviously thrown hundreds of thousands of people into states of discomfort,” she said.
Justice Department Attorney Reuveni endeavored to assure the Virginia lawyers and others that, “We are not trying to run and hide.”
Judging by the comments from Brinkema, perhaps, they should be.